Feelings and personal values may sometimes get in the way when teaching-especially when working with a student teacher. I can empathize with Sandra when she witnessed her class getting out of hand and being borderline chaotic. As the primary teacher, it is ultimately Sandra's job to keep her class in line and promote learning.
Writing the case and discussing it with fellow colleagues is going to be extremely beneficial for Sandra, because she is going to gain outside perspective and insight, that she would've not otherwise had.
Whether or not Sandra should've allowed her student teacher to continue the lesson is a matter of personal preference and what you are comfortable with. By allowing Michelle to continue her ecology lesson, Sandra's student teacher could have had the experience of a failed lesson, thus learning what she should do instead for her next lesson. If it were me, I would've probably stepped in like Sandra, in order to model what was needed in order to salvage the lesson.
Sandra's feelings at the time of the lesson are a direct result of her initial reaction. Following the lesson, she was able to collect her emotions and look at the situation for what it truly was-a learning experience. Michelle's feelings were also a result of the failed lesson, and they distorted her perception.
In my opinion, Sandra had two options: She could have allowed the lesson to continue, or she could have reacted exactly as she had by ending Michelle's lesson early. Perhaps after gaining new insight from her fellow colleagues, Sandra will be able to have an open conversation with Michelle on a course of action for the future. Ideally, this will be a compromise of both sides. Maybe Sandra can allow Michelle to have entire control of a lesson-even if this means that things may not go as planned. As a student teacher, it is vital to have an array of experiences-both good and bad-in order to construct knowledge of how to provide proper instruction and classroom management.
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